Contracts awarded for Lower Limpopo valley roadworks

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Contracts awarded for Lower Limpopo valley roadworks

7:16 CAT | 10 Aug 2018

Photo: Notícias

The National Roads Administration (ANE) has announced the names of the companies awarded contracts to rehabilitate three roads in the southern Mozambican province of Gaza.

According to a report in Friday’s issue of the daily newspaper “Noticias”, ANE revealed the roadworks are part of a pilot project to improve resilience to climate change in the lower Limpopo valley.

Under the plans, the road R441 between Chinhacanine and Nalazi will be rebuilt at a cost of 112 million meticais by the company M&T Enterprises. The road between Mohambe and Maqueze will be rehabilitated at a cost of 98 million meticais by CCH Construction and Engineering and CBC Construction. In addition, the road between Ndonga and Ndidiza will be renovated at a cost of 145 million meticais by JJR and Sons Construction.

In total, the roadworks will cost 356 million meticais (about 6.15 million US dollars at current exchange rates).

Covering 70,000 hectares, the lower Limpopo valley is suitable for growing cereals, legumes, vegetables, and rearing livestock. However, there are challenges related to low productivity and land misuse, post-harvest losses, the lack of finance, and access to markets. ANE believes that improving access roads can greatly benefit farmers through opening markets for their produce.

Climate change has led to an increase in the number of extreme weather events in southern Mozambique. In particular, repeated flooding has severely damaged the road network, and the government is seeking to rebuild roads in ways that improve the chances of them surviving heavy rain. This includes incorporating better drainage and culverts in the design stage.

ANE also announced it is launching a tender to hire a company to supply four fixed and four mobile weighbridges to inspect the weight of trucks travelling along the country’s roads.

It hopes an improved inspection regime will lead to the reduction of overloaded lorries damaging roads. A particular problem is quarry and sandpit operators overloading trucks with material for construction work. This is worsened when the lorries are not properly covered which leads to stones and sand spilling out onto the road where they are ground into the surface by other vehicles.

Source: AIM